Once a Bitcoin Miner
An Ethereum developer attended a Pyongyang conference in North Korea. While others returned home Virgil Griffith didn't— I wrote about Ethan Lou’s newly released book Once a Bitcoin Miner
Ethan Lou is a journalist and author of Field Notes From a Pandemic. A former Reuters and Toronto Star reporter his work has appeared in the Guardian, Globe and Mail, Walrus, Washington Post and others. He currently covers cryptocurrency related topics for Financial Post. His latest book ONCE A BITCOIN MINER is available on October 19th, 2021. You can buy a copy with Bitcoin here.
Fabio Pietrosanti is an entrepreneur and technologist based in Italy with over two decades of experience in digital security and privacy. An advocate for freedom of expression he is on the founding team of GlobaLeaks. Pietrosanti is currently president and co-founder of the Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights.
Pietrosanti attended the Pyongyang conference with Ethan Lou and Virgil Griffith as depicted in ONCE A BITCOIN MINER based off real life events leading up to Virgil Griffith’s arrest.
If an event could determine your future would you sign up?
Crypto is often seven degrees of connections.
This previous Summer I was thinking about writers planning to sell books on a blockchain domain or using crypto as a payment option. I was speaking to a former OkCoin marketer about how the book publishing industry is in need of a shakeup in Canada from voices who cannot rely on intermediaries such as lit agents, publishing houses, or even creators who bootstrap their projects.
Around mid-July I noticed a Toronto journalist named Ethan Lou had a bitcoin book coming out in October called Once a Bitcoin Miner. Out of curiosity I wrote to Lou asking if the book would be sold on a blockchain domain. I began to ask questions about Lou’s writing. I ended up reading the book. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
There isn’t a huge pool of journalists in Canadian media who can say they cover, invest, and would be open to selling their work for crypto. Undeniably, Canada is home to some of crypto’s biggest innovations, stories, and ventures such as the likes of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin who grew up in Toronto. Crypto literature from the last decade continues to grow notably as more Canadian voices contribute more publicly.
As Lou promotes his book, he currently writes a column on the Financial Post about cryptocurrency related news. Over the years Lou’s catalogue of crypto writing connects with both mainstream and crypto-native audiences. Lou discusses anything from the environmental dialogue on bitcoin mining, crypto exchanges gone awry like Mt. Gox, or how privacy conscious people use bitcoin ATMs.
Originally I asked about Lou’s experiences as a bitcoin miner and the daily life of what this entails. Some of the most stigmatizing topics in crypto often leave people perplexed with stock photo miner images in their heads. “Lots of phone calls” was one answer. Once a Bitcoin Miner isn’t a manual about bitcoin mining or a preference for ASIC hardware machines, how to get rich, start a career in crypto, or what Lou’s moral position is on the matter — it’s a novel glimpse into the minds of those who are willing to learn a completely new paradigm of digital currencies.
A reporter working for mainstream media in the bitcoin world can be an unlikely combination. A breather from the technical style of reading one must do to be informed about crypto to avoid sounding like a novice Once a Bitcoin Miner is an accessible novel with many terms, locations, or events that is often one click away for anyone interested.
Lou’s vivid narrative encourages readers to seek their own conclusions. Lou meets Quadriga’s Gerald Cotton described as an unassuming nice guy. Unexpectedly Lou would inquire whether Cotton was alive through an anonymous Russian source from a free encrypted email service based in Switzerland.
Is cryptocurrency worthy of it’s rosy, dark, innovate-our-way-out-of-central-banking-hell reputation? What stereotypes or assumptions exist about people during the 2010s of crypto to the present moment? Once a Bitcoin Miner documents through ATH charts and real-life case studies who gets lost or found, ‘rekt’ or enlightened. At times suspenseful, Lou’s ability to tell a story where the results aren't always pleasant and what it means to press forward while always glancing over one’s shoulder.
That renegade impulse had been widely indifferent to — or even supportive of — Ulbricht’s jacked-up view of freedom. Even as new entrants over the years held more tempered views, even with the great diversity within cryptocurrency, the essence of Ulbricht’s idea was universal. Varying levels of nonconformity and idealism beat in every crypto heart. This is, after all, frontierland, a new world built and populated by those who had deliberately sought to do so, and it has given them community, wealth, and influence. But unshackled from previous worlds, disregarding norms, those who walk this valley so surefootedly sometimes forget what circles overhead - ONCE A BITCOIN MINER P. 213
From the average 9-5 investor looking to improve their financial situation, talented cypherpunks who code like a tasmanian devil, blossoming evangelists, or those looking for a fresh start — the list grows to impressionists, fintech suits, price-obsessed crypto influencers, nocturnal builders, single mothers who ask if I'm concerned about China banning crypto, and slogan hodlers of “bitcoin fixes this” that reads like a bumper sticker. Before crypto went mainstream in 2020, ‘whales’ or ‘plebs’ continue to multiply — some with a low profile while others make no attempt to conceal themselves vocally.
During an era where ex-Wall Street will cheer blockchain while leaving institutions in droves the next terrain of no-mans-crypto-land of regulation unfolds as the “BITO” ETF debuts on the stockmarket. Meanwhile the punks, anons, and apes are running a completely different game: NFTs and DAOs. Some may ask: Is it surprising why crypto has become a trillion dollar industry globally since 2008?
Every book worth reading has a few diamond hands. Crypto is never short of characters as many untold stories are worth thinking about no matter how ideologically divergent. Readers decide through Lou’s observations whether to read for face-value or take the plunge into their own research.
Indeed, Winter is coming.
There’s a catch with reading Once a Bitcoin Miner. This isn't a book that glorifies. Like any job or industry there are people who are approachable and others who are questionable. Nonetheless, no one knows how far bitcoin or crypto will go in the next decade as inflation rates soar or what will happen in the exponential world of blockchain applications in various industries.
From the moody “crypto wealth coach” prototypes like Jan Cerato to the fly in the wall meetups you would stumble on a telegram chat on the now defunct OneCoin through an “iPro Network” meetup. Life: it doesn’t matter who someone is inside or outside of an industry the point remains — trust and verification is a lifelong process.
Initially I had questions about Lou’s experiences who lived a somewhat hidden life while working as a Reuters reporter while mining bitcoin. Lou was based in oil-centric Calgary for an odd amount of years after Toronto where he was often balancing his time reporting while on the crypto circuit. When speaking to Lou last summer my attention shifted to the Pyongyang blockchain conference he attended which is subject to interest in his latest book:
Why did an Ethereum developer get arrested returning to the US after a somewhat infamous Pyongyang blockchain conference in North Korea from 2019?
What was the lecture on?
At the time of our conversation in the Summer Virgil Griffith hadn’t gone to trial while on remand. Griffith attempted to access his Coinbase account which violated his bail. Lou explained the mentality of the prosecutors:
“If you had listened to the talk [Virgil Griffith] gave it was very boring. Surface level — Wikipedia type stuff. I don’t think anyone learned anything. North Koreans didn’t learn anything that they couldn’t find on the internet. [Referring to the trial] the prosecutors argument is this: A professor explains the content of a book to a student. Even if the book is publicly available it’s the professor’s expertise in explaining the material. He helped the student gain better understanding of the material. In this respect, the prosecution argues Virgil Griffith did North Korea a service.”
An excerpt from Once a Bitcoin Miner discusses the geopolitical stakes of being enmeshed with the mystique of a controlled conference without genuine networking:
I was also mindful of the geopolitical sensitivities, of how hot button the issue could be of giving or even being seen as giving technological aid to North Korea. I was there as a conference goer. No way was I going to present.
Virgil Griffith, whose Alabama twang, if you listen closely, still lurks somewhere in his way of speech — who, on the second day, showed up in freshly tailored Mao-style suits with the Mandarin collar. We slept and dined in their finest places, but we had no idea who the conference audience was, were given no one-on-one contact with any attendees, and they probably had no idea who we were, beyond what we said we were. We seemed to be just token foreigners. - ONCE A BITCOIN MINER P. 109
On Septmber 27th, Virgil Griffith plead guilty. Lou reported to CoinDesk what he saw at the courthouse in New York. That day I was catching a flight to Toronto after crewing for film productions. On the flight, I went through the court documents namely discussing charges on conspiracy. Audrey Strauss, also a media spokesperson for Southern District of New York Justice Department made the announcement. Earlier this year one of tech’s most controversial wanted figures was convicted: software anti-virus creator, John McAfee. McAfee was found guilty for fraud and money laundering. McAfee allegedly died by suicide on June 23, 2021 in a Spanish prison cell.
In the United States, tough-on-crypto court cases are common even from prosecutors with human rights interests. Notably, Audrey Strauss formerly served on the board of the Innocent Project. The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted. Some compilations of the project include data gathering, advocacy, and research on false confessions. Real-life exonerees such as Amanda Knox have partnered with the Innocence Project for their work.
In Lou’s book, Fabio Pietrosanti is one of the only publicly named attendees of the Pyongyang conference. There were eight. While in Toronto on Spadina at a chatty cafe on September 30th, I called Fabio Pietrosanti — a technologist who focuses on privacy and encryption with connections to the Tor community. While reading Lou’s book, I previously heard Pietrosanti give an interview after Virgil’s arrest on the 2600 podcast with Emmanuel Goldstein in 2019. His testimonial struck me as similar to Lou’s account.
Towards the end of the podcast Goldstein played an audio clip of Virgil Griffith. Emmanuel Goldstein had previously interviewed Virgil Griffith on his late friend Aaron Swartz a Reddit co-founder who took his own life in 2013.
Swartz accomplished a plethora of milestones as one of the founding thinkers of the RSS forum chatroom style micro-thread platform Reddit. Aaron Swartz was a programmer, entrepreneur, and open-source advocate who believed in open knowledge. In his view, academic databases such as MIT and JSTOR should be publicly accessible not institutionally safeguarded. For this vision, Swartz risked facing up to thirty-five years in prison. Although the plea bargain was rejected from the beginning the punishment didn't fit the crime. The damage had been done.
Swartz was only twenty-six years old.
When Swartz was alive Pietrosanti briefly met him; both had interests in the Tor community. I asked Pietrosanti if he knew Virgil prior to traveling to North Korea. “I knew Virgil. We were both part of Tor Community attending the Tor Developers meetings in-person. [When Swartz was alive] We collaborated together with Aaron Swartz on a common project called Tor2web.”
In a twist of fate Pietrosanti would attend a Pyongyang conference with Virgil Griffith and Ethan Lou. After the guilty verdict on September 27th 2021, I asked if Pietrosanti had any additional thoughts. Pietrosanti told me travelling to North Korea was a once in a lifetime opportunity. In 2010, Pietrosanti along with four others founded GlobaLeaks — a free opensource software initiative intended for those in need of secure tools for whistleblowing or watchdog style initiatives mainly used by independent media, corporations, and individuals defending human rights violations.
Given his work and beliefs on journalists reporting in censored countries Pietrosanti knew he had to go to North Korea. It was like a game trying to follow all the steps to get permission to go to DPRK from calling the British embassy to the actual booking.
The following quotes have been edited for length, clarity, and brevity.
FP: At the conference we were prohibited from talking to people. Unlike a traditional conference there was no such thing as networking or material. It seemed improvised. As a team we were aligned. Be careful with what you do or say.
Virgil had the right to remain silent. Yet, he voluntarily gave his phone to the FBI. This isn’t behavior from a criminal or national threat — it’s naively transparent and foolish at best. If you’ve spent time around Virgil you’ll know he says what he’s thinking which isn’t always smart he was the only American there. In a place like North Korea you can’t openly discuss politics or the regime. It’s dangerous to ask too many questions.
The chilling effect is I was told not to speak out. I wasn’t asked to go to trial since I was publicly supporting Virgil. Therefore, I wasn’t deemed a good witness even though I attended the conference. Will see what the FBI does now. Since Virgil won’t be sentenced until January this may buy the FBI time for a “catch more fish” scenario.
The prosecution tried to encapsulate Virgil as part of a conspiracy. The defense underestimated how much the prosecution would run with this narrative as laid out in the court documents. Since the US has restrictive stances on crypto they can further any conspiracy narratives surrounding blockchain. What we saw at the conference was curated and restrictive. Not surprising.
You trace everything on a blockchain. If you’re a criminal are you going to use blockchain? Not likely.
It’s hard to point at mountains that may not exist.
On the day Virgil Griffith plead guilty one of his lawyers from Singapore didn't make it due to pandemic travel restrictions. After he plead guilty, Griffith’s Coinbase account became accessible.
If a presenter did a talk on peace and blockchain at a United Nations convention or a Paris Climate Change Agreement for blockchain to reduce greenhouse emissions would one assume nefarious activities?
Since 2006, North Korea has been hit with sanctions. Geopolitical sensitivities do matter including cultural cues on how one behaves with new actors. An American in DPRK doing a talk on peace and blockchain in a notoriously censored country understandably creates speculation while becoming a target.
No matter what one thinks about cryptocurrency:
Once a Bitcoin Miner raises difficult questions on legality and regulation in an increasingly decentralized world.
What pertains as proof?
Is a college-style lecture anyone can access on the internet suffice enough to be used to evade sanctions?
If a lecturer discusses how citizens can use cryptocurrency is it a conspiracy whether a presentation takes place in a democracy or not?
Is a facetious text message to one’s own mother proof a person has demonstrably violated sanctions?
What evidence of deals were executed to aid or circumvent sanctions? Outlined in the court documents the prosecution defended how information was obtained this includes any methods aforementioned in the court documents.
Who organized the blockchain conference? The most arguably contentious invite of the conference with close connections to DPRK didn't attend due to Spanish authorities revoking his passport.
An IT consultant from Spain who is the only documented westerner trusted by DPRK to be employed by the government. Alejandro Cao de Benós who also goes by a self-appointed Korean name: Cho Son-Il with ongoing business ties to Pyongyang since the early 2000s including the Korean Friendship Association.
In photographs, Cao de Benós sometimes appears in North Korean military uniform without military verification hindering on what could be debated as stolen valor. When assisting western/foreign journalists to see North Korea some have been detained as a result. A 2020 Danish documentary mini-series called The Mole: Undercover in North Korea emulates how a chef gains the trust of Alejandro Cao de Benós.
Virgil Griffith will be sentenced January 2022.
After the 2008 financial crisis, the world of cryptocurrency continues to offer a variety of introspective life lessons. Who you trust, who you choose to talk to, and your own risk tolerance simultaneously come into play as the old guard ways of behind closed doors traditional finance begin to fold.
After Lou went to New York for Virgil Griffith’s trial which shocked many with a guilty plea I wondered if Lou would go to another crypto conference given the aftermath.
“Absolutely.” Lou wrote.
“I haven’t been to a crypto conference since the pandemic. I used to travel to many. I don’t know where I would go internationally. We will have to see where I’ll go next.”
Thanks for reading,
T ◆
[tip on btc ⚡️]
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Taylor Simone is a freelance journalist and film professional crewing for Vancouver’s motion picture industry specializing in conflict resolution, privacy, data, and reporting. Her public and private work has appeared in VICE, Georgia Straight, Arsenal Pulp, Rabble, and others.
She’s dispatched for Supernatural, Riverdale, Batwoman, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Nancy Drew, DC Legends, The Flash, Superman & Lois, Firefly Lane, Motherland, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Away, Mighty Ducks, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Adam Project, Yellowjackets, Big Sky, The Stand, The Mother, & dozens more…
Her non-fiction debut book If At First You Don’t Succeed is slated for 2022.
Sig. taylorsimone@protonmail.com
Click for pitching guidelines.
REFERENCES:
2600 | Off the Hook December 2019
Bitcoin.com. December 28, 2019. Cloud Token and the Rise of MLM Crypto Projects
The Bitcoin Standard Podcast: An Austrian in Pyongyang!
BBC News. August, 2007. Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits'
Calgary Herald, 16 June 2009. Jail term hailed as blow to gang
CoinDesk. October 25th, 2020. Ethereum Dev Virgil Griffith's Attorney Files Motion to Dismiss Charges of Aiding North Korea
CoinTelegraph. December, 2019. Vitalik Buterin Supports Petition to Free Arrested Blockchain Dev
CoinTelegraph. September, 2019. North Korea Wants Its Own National Crypto
Decrypt News. February 11, 2020. North Korea is mining way more Monero than last year
Decrypt News. Jul 20, 2021. Ethereum Dev Virgil Griffith Violates Bail by Trying to Access Coinbase Account: Report
The Diplomat. April 9, 2019. A Closer Look at North Korea’s Virtual Currency Ambitions
Fast Company. September 7, 2021. The lives of two Stanford-students-turned-founders reveal tech’s misplaced priorities
Financial Post. September 23, 2021. Crypto, justice and geopolitics set to collide at landmark trial of Virgil Griffith
Forbes. January 11, 2019. Remembering Aaron Swartz and His Influence on Reforming Criminal Justice
Globe and Mail. February 8, 2019. Crypto chaos: From Vancouver to Halifax, tracing the mystery of Quadriga’s missing millions
Inner City Press. SDNY Courthouse: September 13th, 2021. Griffith Jailed Before NoKo Trial His Motion Triggers Inquiry Into Flaws Like Nejad
Inner City Press. SDNY Courthouse: September 27th, 2021. Virgil Griffith Pleads Guilty To North Korea Sanctions Violation Conspiracy On Morning of Trial
MIT Technology Review. December, 2019. A blockchain expert is accused of helping North Korea’s leaders
Nakamoto, Satoshi. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" See Section 4. Proof-of-work.
NY Post. August 25, 2021. FBI Palantir glitch allowed unauthorized access to private data
NY Times. November, 2008. Internet Man of Mystery
Reuters. November, 2016. Ethan Lou: Bitcoin guru leaves Canada's TSX to focus on blockchain venture
Tech Crunch. December, 2019. Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith accused of helping North Korea evade sanctions